The Wilmington University men’s golf team made the turn at even par in the second round of the NCAA Division II Championships, but ran into trouble in the back nine and finished with a 297 (+9) for the round, placing the Wildcats in 16th place after two days on the course.

Junior PJ Tighe continues to lead the Wildcats, posting a two-under 70 with four birdies to go to three-under par for the tournament and in a tie for eighth place. Tighe heads into the third and final round of traditional scoring six shots off the lead.

Starting on the front nine of the Cardinal Club Golf Course on Tuesday, Tighe made the turn with a two-under 34, playing a bogey free opening nine while birdieing the second and eighth holes. After the turn, Tighe bogeyed the 11 but got back to -2 on the day with a birdie on 14. Following another bogey on 16, Tighe fired a birdie on the par-5 17 and made par on 18 to leave the course two-under on the day, three-under on the tournament.

The team was even after the first nine holes as sophomore Jerry Temple shot a three-under 33 (after bogeying the first) to lead the team. Senior Dan Ott battled back from a double bogey on six to record back-to-back birdies on eight and nine to make the turn at one-over 37. Sophomore Andrew Baldo rounded out the Wildcats team scoring by making a birdie on six to cut his score to +2, but a double on nine made a four-over 40 at the turn.

Baldo hit two birdies on the back nine, but was hurt by four bogeys finishing the day with a +6, 78. Ott nearly played mistake free golf on the back nine, but a bogey on 10 and again on 16 pushed his score back to +3 as he came in with a 75. Temple made birdie on 17 to get his score back to even after four bogeys in five holes, but a double bogey on 18 as he found the greenside sand trap pushed him to a two-over 74.

Chico State shot a remarkable 11 under 277 on the day and went into the clubhouse with a -10 two-day score to lead the field. CSU-Stanislaus also made a push on Tuesday, as it shot a nine-under 279 to get to three-under for the tournament and sit in third place. The top eight teams move on to the head-to-head portion on the tournament starting on Friday.

Chico State’s Eric Frazzetta shot up to the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday as he shot an outstanding 29 on the front nine, -7 on the first nine holes. He went on to birdie three more holes on the back nine, with the only hiccup on his day coming on 14 with a bogey. He came into the clubhouse with a nine-under 63 and is now second with a 73-63-136 (-8). Central Oklahoma’s Josh Creel leads all individuals with a 65-70-135 (-9) after two days on the course.